THIS invention relates to a compactor which is based on the use of impact rollers.
The term "impact roller" was used by the applicant in 1953 in U.S. Pat. No. 2,909,106 and in equivalent patent applications in other countries to describe an impact mass of non-circular profile which when towed over a surface by means of an appropriately constructed drawbar and tractive vehicle produces a series of impact blows. The shaped mass i.e. the roller, in all developments of which the applicant is aware, is relatively narrow, of the order of 11/2 meters wide, and is surrounded by the frame of the drawbar.
The relatively narrow impact roller of the type described has the particular disadvantage that it is considerably narrower than the track width of the towing vehicle and consequently it cannot compact the full width traversed by the vehicle. Consequently when work is done on earth embankments a zone of uncompacted soil which is usually more than a meter wide is left along the embankment edge. This soil must then be compacted by other means.